Garmin Ltd. - Google Finance | Hacker News Reader

Garmin Ltd. - Google Finance

google.com

9 pointsapgwoz15 comments

Might be a great time to buy Garmin stock.

I bought a GPS unit for my parents, because my parents can actually use it (and they do). The same can't be said for an Android cell phone. I don't think the Android announcement is as much of a threat as the stock plunge suggests.

Stock prices are forward looking, think how adopted and improved Google maps will be in a few years. A big chunk of Garmin and Tom Tom's biz is being swept out from under them not just by Google's new map nav, but by the convergence of gps and smart phones.

Garmin GPS's do have easy to use interfaces - but why do you think the android map won't be?

A group from Garmin came to my school about 5 years ago to do recruiting. I asked their engineer and marketing people if they were going to make a phone, since everyone will have GPS navs on their phone in a few years. They just laughed and said no. Made me quite happy when the iPhone first came out.

Looks like Garmin is tanking based on the android announcement

What announcement?, and why would that make Garmin's stock tank?

The announcement that Droid/Android 2.0 will use a mapping/directions system based on google maps/street view, with realtime data on traffic, and real-view street-view photos of intersections to reduce the chances of getting lost/making a wrong turn.

Basically, traditional 'non-connected' GPS driving aids just became obsolete today. It'll be hard for Garmin/Tom-Tom to compete without the infrastructure google has built around maps/street-view, or licensing it.

The announcement a few posts up on the main page of Hacker News... http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-google-map...

Also, TomTom disclosed their 3rd-quarter results today, with profits down 47% compared to last year. So the GPS industry seems to be hurting even before Android 2.0...

Amazing that volume is ten times above the average today; this definitely seems like over-reaction.

Vol / Avg. 11.07M/1.87M

Yeah, Garmin makes a lot more than turn-by-turn driving direction devices. Marine and aviation equipment, for example.

You don't think the market had already priced in the idea that cellphones were inevitably going to displace handheld GPS?

Based on the 15% drop today, no.

Exactly. This isn't the first cell phone / GPS combo; this isn't even the first version of Google Maps on a cell phone to integrate with GPS functionality.

Come to think of it, this drop probably has a lot more to do with TomTom's earnings than it does Google.

Tho' I can remember when Magellan dominated this industry, so much so that we all said Magellan when we meant GPS, like Xerox, Sellotape, Hoover and so on. Now no-one I know has a Magellan (tho' they do still seem to be in business).

I don't see any IPX7 rated Android devices, tho', that's the bare minimum for a GPS for real outdoor use.

Marine and Aviation equipment together account for about 15% of Garmin's revenue. The overwhelming majority of their business comes from exactly the segment Android is targeting.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com